The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a notice regarding the disposition of a significant amount of Bitcoin totaling over $131 million from former marketplace Silk Road.
This action follows a court order in the 2021 case United States v. Joseph Farace, which resulted in the seizure of Bitcoin from Ryan Farace and Shaun Bridges. Ryan France was sentenced to 54 months in prison earlier this year for laundering drug proceeds through the dark web. With his father.
Bridges was a U.S. Secret Service special agent who was convicted in 2015 of laundering drug money using Bitcoin on the infamous darknet marketplace Silk Road.
The digital assets seized include 2,874 bitcoins worth about $129 million and 58 bitcoins worth about $3 million. Both batches were seized in Memphis and Arlington in 2021.
The U.S. District Court declared its intent to sell the forfeited assets at the direction of the Attorney General. Except for the defendants in this case, individuals claiming an interest in confiscated property were given 60 days from January 10 to submit an auxiliary petition, a legal document that must be submitted to claim an interest in confiscated property.
After all claims have been reviewed, or once the claims period has expired, the United States officially takes possession of the seized Bitcoin and can legally sell it.